Photoshop Insider

From Yesterday’s Bridal Shoot

By Scott on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 6:02 am | updates.

Here are some shots from a Bridal Shoot I did yesterday at a Catholic church in Clearwater, Florida (click on it for a larger view). The images haven’t been retouched in Photoshop yet—you’re seeing a straight capture of them taken in Lightroom’s “Lights Out” mode, in the Grid.

The shots were taken using the same one-light Elinchrom On-Location studio lighting set-up that I talked about on the final day of Lighting Gear Week (An Elinchrom Ranger RX Kit [flash head and battery pack], with a 53″ Elinchrom Midiocta softbox, mounted on a rolling Avenger boom stand. We also used a reflector for some of the shots, but mostly just that Elinchrom). We shot inside the church, and then outside in the portico, but still used the Elinchrom for everything except two of the shots you see here.

They were shot with a Nikon D3, with a 70-2oo mm VR lens, a 50mm f/1.4 lens (the one I talk about in Vol. 2 of “The Digital Photography Book), but a few were taken with a Nikon D300 using a 17-55mm f/2.8 lens and a 12-24mm f/4 wide angle zoom. I shot tethered to my laptop most of the day, with the images going straight from my camera right into Lightroom, via Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 (as seen below).

Thanks to RC Concepcion (who was there shooting me shooting the Bride–photo above by RC–click on it for a larger version), to Shelley (our makeup artist), to Erin (who assisted me on the shoot, and is seen above wondering–”Is this thing aimed right?), and of course, Kortney our lovely bride.

Comment form for this post

^#1

Awesome Scott, great lighting!

www.crashtaylor.com

Crash on March 25th, 2008 at 6:27 am

^#2

HEY SCOTT,

I have never shot a wedding before but wanted to know how realistic is it to have all that photo gear/lighting setup with you on a real wedding shoot?

Thanks
Ken

KEN on March 25th, 2008 at 6:48 am

^#3

Hi Ken:
It’s just one light, with a small battery pack hanging from the lightstand (Don’t let the size of the softbox fool you). It takes less than three minutes to set up, and it all fits in a carry-on sized travel case (except the one light stand, of course).

I only use this type of set-up for the formal bridal portraits before the wedding—-during the wedding this gear is packed up and I use wireless hot shoe flash for covering the wedding itself, reception, etc.

Hope that helps.:)

-Scott

Scott on March 25th, 2008 at 8:17 am

^#4

WOW !!

Number 8 is my personal favorite… Beautiful !!
Is it okay that I now have total softbox envy ?

: )

Great Work

Sarah Kennedy on March 25th, 2008 at 8:31 am

^#5

Hi
Hi
I have to admit what ever you write in your page is either inspiring or educational to the fullest, and by the way you are the one who make me coming back to photography with so much enthusiasm but this is a long story so maybe later,
But I want I want to know if you please how I can make the Camera Control Pro2 and Lightroom work together like what you did…..

Thinks & best wishes

Esam Kabli on March 25th, 2008 at 9:20 am

^#6

Hey Scott,

If I had known you are a sharp shooter, I’d hired you to shoot my wedding!
I sure Kortney and family will cherish those photos for very long time.

Tony Woodard on March 25th, 2008 at 9:23 am

^#7

Wow! I *wish* my pictures looked like that SOOC. Very cool. Lucky bride to have such amazing pics.

shanna on March 25th, 2008 at 9:51 am

^#8

Scott,
I just switched to Mac and am wondering what program you use for screen shots, any help is appreciated.
Thanks, Eric

Eric Kelley on March 25th, 2008 at 9:55 am

^#9

Since you were shooting with two cameras, and both cameras link to your laptop by a USB port, is it possible to have both cameras plugged in and feeding the laptop photos? (Just about every laptop out today has multiple USB ports.)
You’re a daily read.
Thanks
Tom

Tom Peterson on March 25th, 2008 at 10:43 am

^#10

Great Stuff….thanks for the years of knowledge, i’ve loved your books and tutorials and podcasts. You are a great contributor to the profession.

Laz Abalos on March 25th, 2008 at 11:22 am

^#11

@ Eric…
You don’t need a special application to do screen shots on a mac. Just press Command-Shift-3 and you’ll find a screen grab on your desktop.

You should also have an application called ‘Grab’ that comes with OSX.
You’ll find that in the Applications - Utilities Folder.

David

David Queenan on March 25th, 2008 at 11:23 am

^#12

Off topic but see this photo

http://www.nikonians-images.org/galleries/showphoto.php/photo/112460/ppuser/86184

When you look at this photo in lightroom,bridge or Nikon NX you see what you see on the left. the right photo (the same) you get a more natural look. Do you or anyone know why this photo is so red in face on left??

Baffled in KY.

Ken

PS I know the settings on Lightroom, bridge, Nikon NX are set to “as shot”

KenL on March 25th, 2008 at 11:40 am

^#13

Going back to lifghting week, are skyports the same as RadioPoppers?

Sheldon on March 25th, 2008 at 11:48 am

^#14

@ Eric,

I see David told you about capturing an image of your whole screen and that’s great, but you can also press Shift-Cmd-ctrl-4…. (you’ll see these little cross hairs come up) click and drag over whatever you want captured and there ya go !! This lets you be a little more precise when doing a screen capture….

: )

Sarah Kennedy on March 25th, 2008 at 12:00 pm

^#15

Scott,

Great shots as always! I noticed you said that you shot straight to Lightroom via Nikon Camera Control 2 (NCC2). How do you set this up so NCC2 passes the picture straight over to Lightroom? Does the picture popup in full screen within Lightroom or are you doing an import from the directory that NCC2 drops the photos?

Jason on March 25th, 2008 at 12:02 pm

^#16

Hi Scott,

You sure have your lighting down! The Photoshop Guy turned into a remarkable Camera Guy. And having these two talents is what any professional photographer should strive for! Schweeeet!

I myself am interested in shooting tethered. What does that implicate soft-and hardware-wise? Is it an expesive package? (I’m a Nikon shooter). Are there alternatives in getting your pics straight into the laptop?

thank you!

kramon

kramon on March 25th, 2008 at 12:15 pm

^#17

I am new to your site and new-ish to digiatl photog - I am trying to leran how to maximize the posibilities - I have a queiston - do you avhe a post where you talk specifically about tethering to your laptop? ie how the hey bob do you do that?!?!?!

Raquita on March 25th, 2008 at 1:50 pm

^#18

Scott,
I was wondering if you could share what focus mode you’re using for these portraits (what you would use for portraits in general and also weddings)? Do you shoot in manual focus or auto? If auto, which auto mode are you using?
Thanks so much,
Mike

Mike P on March 25th, 2008 at 2:07 pm

^#19

Hey Scott,

Gorgeous images! A quick lens question… were you only using the D300 for the 12-24mm and 17-55mm shots because they’re DX lenses? Would there be any advantage to shooting those lenses on the D3 in cropped mode? (being a D300 owner I’m not sure if the D3 has a cropped mode, I’m just assuming it does).

Thanks
Nasir

Nasir Hamid on March 25th, 2008 at 4:10 pm

^#20

Scott,

Great shots as always! I’ve long since added the Ranger and Octa kits to my wish lists!

Have a good one!

Stephen

Stephen J. Zeller on March 25th, 2008 at 6:16 pm

^#21

To Those Who Have Asked Questions,

Scott has mentioned this in his posts before, but a lot of the questions that have been asked today have been answered in The Digital Photography Book, Vol. 2 as well as Vol. 1. They are certainly worth a small fee to acquire them.

I hope you don’t mind me jumping in here Scott, I know you’re a busy guy. I promise I wasn’t trying to hi-jack your blog!

Stephen

Stephen J. Zeller on March 25th, 2008 at 6:22 pm

^#22

Scott,
With writing books, editing magazines and all your web stuff how do you find the time to shoot a wedding? You are truly an amazing person and you seem to do everything with style and professionalism on top of all that. Your books, magazines and dvd’s have been the guiding light in my pursuit of photography knowledge. Keep up the great work.

Alex

Alex Best on March 26th, 2008 at 12:09 am

^#23

Scott - Super shots! You recommend the Elinchrom 53″ Midi-Octa. What is your opinion of the deep throat softbox which has similar qualities to a beauty dish. Could this be used instead for the main light - any disadvantages compred to the 53″ Midi-Octa?

Paul on March 26th, 2008 at 3:04 am

^#24

Ok, forget the laptop tether - I want to know about the laptop stand you’re using! Is that some sort of clamp?

Thanks!

Justin Pardee on March 26th, 2008 at 11:13 am

^#25

Two dresses? Was she auditioning them?

Paul #2 on March 26th, 2008 at 12:38 pm

^#26

Great Picures.
I am a Wedding Photographer in Fort Lauderdale, and I found very interesting you using the laptop for that session. I think that is ok if you have extra time or and assistant to help you with the light and the laptop.
Great job…
Paulo

Paulo Jordao on March 26th, 2008 at 4:47 pm

^#27

How cares about the lighting equipment….Kortney is smoking HOT.

Rick on March 27th, 2008 at 4:43 pm

^#28

Absolutely loved the photos. Loved the 6th one. Presuming you took it with 50mm prime. Keen to know if it was handheld. Also, did you focus on the bride, locked it and moved the camera at your left to cover the arches? Thanks. Vivek

Vivek on March 28th, 2008 at 4:25 pm

^#29

what a lovely bride!

poetryman69 on March 31st, 2008 at 7:26 am

^#30

Bringing up an old post here… But I am very interested in what you used to support the laptop.

Great photos and beautiful lighting.. I too love my octabox’s

Bryant on August 4th, 2008 at 4:21 pm